System and method for automatic evaluation of project management tickets

Abstract

A method and system for computer processes and data structures is described that define an environment for monitoring tasks that together constitute a project, where such processes utilize a scripting language to define certain functions that may relate data from one part of a project to another.

What is claimed: 
     
       1. A method executed by a computer system for automatic processing of form data structures comprising a project data structure defined by the form data structures, the method comprising:
 executing a form builder process to generate and store a form data structure in a computer data storage device; 
 receiving input to the form builder process comprised of data representing a script; 
 storing the received script in a script database record comprising a script database; 
 automatically extracting an at least one Fully-Qualified Path (FQP) from the data representing the script said at least one FQP comprised of a corresponding script identifier and a corresponding reference to a data query specification, said data query specification defining how to obtain a location of a corresponding data object from a predetermined database; 
 storing the at least one extracted FQP in a Fully-Qualified Path (FQP) data structure; 
 receiving data representing an input script; 
 determining by parsing the input script the presence of at least one reference to an FQP comprising the input script; 
 using the at least one determined FQP reference and the FQP data structure to determine a corresponding at least one query specification; 
 using the at least one determined query specification to generate a corresponding at least one query; 
 using the at least one generated query and the predetermined database to obtain a query result return value corresponding at least one data object reference corresponding to the at least one determined FQP; 
 generating a revised input script by replacing the at least one determined FQP comprising the input script with a corresponding data comprising the at least one obtained data object referred to by the corresponding at least one data object reference; and 
 executing the revised input script. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 automatically activating the stored script by selecting a script from the script database by matching a script identifier with a script identifier comprising the data record comprised of the stored script. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 automatically obtaining the query result—return value—by passing the query result return values through an at least one designated relationship between corresponding at least two Fully-Qualified Path (FQP) entries in the FQP data structure. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1  where the determining by parsing step is comprised of using at least one scanner to detect an at least one alphanumeric text data within the input script that matches an at least one pre-existing scanner target tokens corresponding to the at least one scanner. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4  further comprising:
 constructing an expression from the matched at least one scanner target tokens. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5  further comprising calculating a return value of the script by evaluating the expression. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 storing the at least one query result value in the corresponding form data structure. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 passing the at least one query result value to a computer process as part of a query result. 
 
     
     
       9. A computer system for automatic processing of form data structures comprising a project data structure defined by the form data structures, said system comprised computer memory comprised of program data that when executed causes the computer system to:
 execute a form builder process to generate and store a form data structure in a computer data storage device; 
 receive input to the form builder process comprised of data representing a script; 
 store the received script in a script database record comprising a script, 
 automatically extract an at least one Fully-Qualified Path (FQP) from the data representing the script said at least one FQP comprised of a corresponding script identifier and a corresponding reference to a data query specification, said data query specification defining how to obtain a location of a corresponding data object from a predetermined database; 
 store the at least one extracted FQP in a Fully-Qualified Path (FQP) data structure; 
 receive data representing an input script; 
 determine by parsing the input script at least one reference to an FQP comprising the input script; 
 use the at least one determined FQP reference and the FQP data structure to determine a corresponding at least one query specification; 
 use the at least one determined query specification to generate a corresponding at least one query; 
 use the at least one generated query and the predetermined database to obtain a query result return value corresponding at least one data object reference corresponding to the at least one determined FQP; 
 generate a revised input script by replacing the at least one determined FQP comprising the input script with a corresponding data comprising the at least one obtained data object referred to by the corresponding at least one data object reference; and 
 execute the revised input script. 
 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9  where the computer program data further causes the computer to:
 automatically activate the stored script by selecting a script from the script database by matching a script identifier with a script identifier comprising the data record comprised of the stored script. 
 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 9  where the computer program data further causes the computer to:
 automatically obtain the query result—return value by passing the query result return values through an at least one designated relationship between corresponding at least two Fully-Qualified Path (FQP) entries in the FQP data structure. 
 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 9  where the computer program data further causes the computer to determine by parsing the script by using at least one scanner to detect an at least one alphanumeric text data within the input script that matches an at least one pre-existing scanner target tokens corresponding to the at least one scanner. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 12  where the computer program data further causes the computer to:
 construct an expression from the matched at least one scanner target tokens. 
 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 13  where the computer program data further causes the computer to calculate a return value of the script by evaluating the expression. 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 9  where the computer program data further causes the computer to:
 store the at least one query result value in the corresponding form data structure. 
 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 9  where the computer program data further causes the computer to pass the at least one query result value to a computer process as part of a query result.